N00B bass guitar question.

[Chrisjd]

i am far past-due for getting a bass to add to my recording, but I don't know which route to take, and here's why...

 

I mostly play my baritone(because it sounds the best recorded.) but i use all my guitars and the following tunings: drop A#, drop C, and Eb standard.

 

I am guessing i should probably buy a 5 string for the range?

 

My number one question is this..... Do bass players always tune the same as the guitarist? In other words, If i bought a 5 string, which is standard tuned to B, am i going to want to detune to play with my A# baritone guitars? on the same token, with that bass would i be able to play with my C-tuned guitar?

 

halp, plox.

[Rock Hardness]

5 string is what I use with my bari. Retune to A# for the traditional octave below your guitar. That will give you even more range for your other tunings if you like - no need to retune.

[Valtyr]

I play 4 and 6 string basses in addition to guitar. You get used to the b string very quick and switching over to guitar should be no problem. I have never tuned to match the guitarist.

 

It has caused issues with noob guitarists. If they are looking at your fretboard might make the mistake of assuming you are tuned the same.

[theAntihero]

You dont have to be in the same tuning but doing so sounds a bit more alike/together to my ears.

[fretless]

I'm in Eb all the time so I tune there , if it was dropped lower for 1 or 2 tunes and I had a 5 string I'd probably just stay there but I like the open strings so really it would depend on the tune and the overall sound of things . So maybe I would drop down to the guitars . Problem with many 5ver's is the "B" is already "floppy" so that depends as well , Some guys just retune 4 bangers down low and lose the open G .

[diocide]

If you're tuned that low, I think a 5 string will fit the bill. I'd tune it BEAD, and then tune it down or up to match up with what your doing. If you're just using it for tracking and whatnot, it'll make it a lot easier on you to just tune it to whatever the guitars are doing.

[RSBro]

Depends on what kind of music I'm doing.

For most of what I hear here and the br00tz crew, definitely I would.

We play in drop C and 90% of what we do is played off the open C or whatnot so it makes no sense to try and "transpose" that by trying to "base" fingerings off the 1st fret B string.

Now when I've played country or gospel or whatever, I'll just use a regular 5'er and since so much of that is in Eb or something, 4th fret B string is easy enough to bounce off of. So it just depends.

A lot of people don't like to "detune" a 5'er bc it takes the right strings, setup, and rig for it to even sound good. My B only goes down to A which isn't much at all, but it absolutely crushes.

So yeah- for anything I do in this band, I just match whatever tuning our song is in, especially now that I've become the 3rd BGV guy, and I need to focus more on that.

 

In my last cover band we did E std/drop D, Eb std/drop C# and drop C. We just used each set of tuning per set, so we weren't switching instruments and it worked out great. I was able to use the same bass for both E/D and Eb/C# and then a separate one for C so I only needed 2 axes. Was easy enough and I soooo much prefer playing songs "as performed" when possible.

[Chrisjd]

 

Depends on what kind of music I'm doing. For most of what I hear here and the br00tz crew, definitely I would. We play in drop C and 90% of what we do is played off the open C or whatnot so it makes no sense to try and "transpose" that by trying to "base" fingerings off the 1st fret B string. Now when I've played country or gospel or whatever, I'll just use a regular 5'er and since so much of that is in Eb or something, 4th fret B string is easy enough to bounce off of. So it just depends. A lot of people don't like to "detune" a 5'er bc it takes the right strings, setup, and rig for it to even sound good. My B only goes down to A which isn't much at all, but it absolutely crushes. So yeah- for anything I do in this band, I just match whatever tuning our song is in, especially now that I've become the 3rd BGV guy, and I need to focus more on that. In my last cover band we did E std/drop D, Eb std/drop C# and drop C. We just used each set of tuning per set, so we weren't switching instruments and it worked out great. I was able to use the same bass for both E/D and Eb/C# and then a separate one for C so I only needed 2 axes. Was easy enough and I soooo much prefer playing songs "as performed" when possible.

 

 

 

Would a stock 5 string with stock strings handle tuning down half a step for A#?

[theAntihero]

 

Would a stock 5 string with stock strings handle tuning down half a step for A#?

 

 

Depends what you mean by "stock". The main problem with 5 string basses is the floppy b string, it really needs a longer scale than 34" to usually work well.

[RSBro]

 

Depends what you mean by "stock". The main problem with 5 string basses is the floppy b string, it really needs a longer scale than 34" to usually work well.

 

 

Totally disagree. Strings make way, way more of an impact than 34/35" scale length. My Spector NS-5 is 34" and kicks all sorts of ass in that tuning (ACGCF). I've been playing it that way almost 3 years now. Of course, I use a .150 low B made for drop tuning, so that helps.

[RSBro]

 

Would a stock 5 string with stock strings handle tuning down half a step for A#?

 

 

If you're going to be pretty much only riding the B string, then yeah it should be fine. That's only a half step. Anything B, Bb (A#), A on bass is where it gets weird for me because of how to handle the other 3 or 4 strings. I hate tuning up and pretty much refuse to ever do it. But on a 5'er, especially if you're going between those 3 tunings, that's probably the best way.

On my 4 which I use for drop B, I use a 5 string set and just lose the low E. But for C, you'd need to tune up half a step which isn't too bad but again, it's how much you're going to be using the E-G strings. You could alternate between Bb and C on the B string, and then just leave the E string in Eb maybe?

[theAntihero]

 

Totally disagree. Strings make way, way more of an impact than 34/35" scale length. My Spector NS-5 is 34" and kicks all sorts of ass in that tuning (ACGCF). I've been playing it that way almost 3 years now. Of course, I use a .150 low B made for drop tuning, so that helps.

 

 

True but im not entirely sure what sort of bass he's going for, some of the cheapy 5 strings ive played have some super sloppy B strings but usually it seems that most 5 strings have a .130 B string and since he said stock thats what im basing it off of.

 

I guess what i should have said is:

 

A lot of B strings are already floppy so unless you are going for a longer scale for downtuning you are going to want to change strings to something heavier

[PDbyS]

For heavier music the guitar(s) and bass tend to be tuned similarly just for the chugging the lowest string. In your circumstance I would suggest a 5-string tuned down a half-step from standard (Bb-Eb-Ab Db Gb) and use a capo for C tuning. That looks to be the best way to deal with those 3 tunings. If it was just drop C and drop Bb I'd suggest tuning to C standard and dropping it to Bb.

 

About the scale vs string tension...they both matter. It is mainly an issue since music stores only carry up to .130 for 5 string sets. If a standard 5 string set had a .140 or even .135, instead of .125 & .130, for a B this wouldn't be such an issue. That's why bassists like to talk about scale factoring in so much. The extra inch helps to deal with that lack of tension. Does that mean a 35

[Chrisjd]

thanks for the good information. Sounds like the 5 string might be the way to go... I will try to find a 35 scale.